Method of making ring settings



June 20, 1944. M LE 2,351,689

METHOD OF MAKING RING SETTINGS Filed April 30, 1 942 MZlibnA Leeendn 1 3% fab 1429b; wq/

Patented June 20, 1944 oFFlcs METHOD or MAKING RINGJSETTINGS Milton A. Letendre, Minneapolis, Minn.

App-licationApril 30, 19-42, Serial No. 441,123

Hitherto,.settings for rings and the main bodies of other articles of jewelry have been made both in cameo and in intaglio on the face of more or less valuable stones. My invention provides an improvement or process of making ornamental designs, figures, or the like, on the faces of hard, but somewhat ductile or plastic bodies of ring settings or other articles of jewelry, and plating or coating the impressed figures or designs with sheets of gold or other and more ductile metal that will differ from the color of the impressed design, and the design stand out in full view.

In actual practice I have used my improved method and have found that the figures or designs can be produced at relatively small cost, and will be ornamental and highly desirable as a substitute for the more expensive and now difficult' t9 secure carved or engraved stones.

The nature of the improved method will appear, both generically and specifically, from the following description of the preferred manner in which I have carried the improved method into actual practice;

The improved method is illustrated in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the plate or ring setting as it appears after the initial intaglio imprint has been made thereon;

Fig. 2 is a view corresponding to Fig. l, but showing the setting as it appears after anchoring pockets have been bored or formed therein;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken through the ring setting approximately on the line 33 of Fig. 1, and showing the ring setting as it is initially pressed between the embossed die and a pressed plunger;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken approximately on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a roughed out blank of thin sheet gold which is to be applied to the character impression formed in the ring setting; and

Fig. 6 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3, but showing the plating sheet pressed into the intaglio design of the setting.

In the drawing, a jewelry main body in the nature of ring setting, which is preferably a quite hard but slightly ductile metal, is indicated by the numeral Hi. In plan outline this setting is shown as rectangular and initially will be fiat both top and bottom. The numeral ll indicates a forming die provided with a rectangular aligning seat or depression, the bottom of which is embossed or cut to form the outlines of the figure or characters to be embossed into the ring setting It). The raised or embossed surface of this forming die is marked by the character l3, and in the particular illustration is cut to form the design shown best in Fig. 1. The numeral I4 indicates the plunger or pressure producer member of a die press. In practice, the embossed or forming die ID will be assumed to rest upon a fixed base and by suitable means, such as provided in a die press, the member M will be forced against the ring setting. The walls of the aligning recess l2 guide the ring setting against the embossed surface of the die, thereby producing the intaglio print shown, for example, inFig. 1.

As a second step of the method, the setting is removed from the forming die, and anchoring pockets l5 are bored or formed at various places such, for example, as best shown in Fig. 2. As best shown in Fig. 4, these anchoring pockets l5 are oblique to and undercut the face of the setting and some thereof are at a converging angle in respect to other pockets. As the next step, a thin sheet of plating metal of much greater ductility than the setting, preferably gold, is cut to suitable form such as, for example, shown in Fig. 5, and this plating sheet is placed over the embossed surface l3 of the die II]. In practice this plating sheet has been a gold plate of about seventeen thousandths of an inch in thickness.

As the next step, the ring setting is again placed in the aligned seat l2 of die [0, immediately over the plating sheet I6, and then by operation of the die press, the ring setting is pressed onto the gold plating sheet under such high pressure that the gold of the sheet will be caused to produce a thin coating over the entire design, and portions of the sheet will be caused to flow more or less into the surface undercutting anchoring pockets l5, as best shown in Fig. 6. The gold sheet is of such extreme ductility that under high pressure it will fiow and form a thin filament over the entire design including detached or remote depressions formed as part of the design beyond the main body of the design. After the impressed design has been formed on the face of the ring setting, the surplus thin filament of gold may be cut off from the smooth or uncut portions of the setting leaving the complete design standing out as a gold inlay. The

body of the ring setting may vary in color, but should materially differ from the color of the gold inlay.

ting.

Very high pressure will be required to properly spread over the impressed design, even such ductile metal as gold; but this pressure can readily be produced by die press of well known construction. Of course, it is of the utmost importance that when the plating sheet is finally pressed to form, the impression produced in the ring setting must be in perfect registration and alignment with the embossed surface of the die. In the scheme illustrated in thedrawing, this perfect alignment is insured by the seat l2 of the die H which is made to fit the contour of the set- By forming the anchoring pockets [5 oblique to the face of the ring setting and by forming some of the pockets oblique in respect to other pockets a sort of dovetailed anchoring action is produced between the settingand the thin forming die into the surface of such jewelry body to thereby form a corresponding design impression in said jewelry body, next forming anchoring pockets in the jewelry body through the surface of the design impression formed by the embossed design of the die and which pockets are oblique one to the other and undercut the surface of the impressed design of the jewelry body, next placing between the die and the jewelry body a thin sheet of plating metal 01. greater ductility than theimpressed jewelry fbody and :Qf -sufficient area to cover the impressed design, and next forcing the embossed design of the same die into the anchoring pockets.

and to displace some of the plating sheet into the surface undercutting portions of the oblique MI TON A. 

